{"id":2267,"date":"2024-12-11T21:29:54","date_gmt":"2024-12-12T02:29:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/?p=2267"},"modified":"2024-12-11T21:29:55","modified_gmt":"2024-12-12T02:29:55","slug":"the-four-levels-of-market-position-most-never-reach-level-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/the-four-levels-of-market-position-most-never-reach-level-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Four Levels of Market Position (Most Never Reach Level 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re customer-centric!&#8221;<br>Every company says it.<br>Few actually are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here&#8217;s why there are four levels of customer focus, and most companies never get past level one:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>LEVEL 1: SAYING IT<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Creating ads about customer focus<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Training support to sound friendly<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Writing mission statements<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Measuring message effectiveness<br><em>Cost: Marketing budget<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>This is where most companies stop. It&#8217;s easy. It&#8217;s cheap. It&#8217;s just talk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>LEVEL 2: PROVING IT<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Sharing customer satisfaction scores<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Highlighting service examples<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Publishing testimonials<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Demonstrating customer results<br><em>Cost: Time and effort<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Better, but still just evidence of claims. Not fundamental change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>LEVEL 3: BEING IT<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Jeff Bezos leaving empty chair in meetings for &#8216;the customer&#8217;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Costco CEO threatening to kill successor if they raise hot dog prices<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Amazon losing money on Prime for years<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Patagonia turning down billion-dollar orders that conflict with values<br><em>Cost: Real money and opportunities<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>This is where positioning starts in expensive business decisions that demonstrate what you fundamentally are. These decisions affect everything:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>How you develop products<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Who you hire<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Which partnerships you choose<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Where you invest resources<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>But there&#8217;s an even deeper level:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>LEVEL 4: OWNING IT<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Amazon doesn&#8217;t compete in retail they own CONVENIENCE itself<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Tesla doesn&#8217;t compete in cars they own THE FUTURE<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Apple doesn&#8217;t compete in tech they own EXPERIENCE<br><em>Cost: Your entire business model<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>This is where positioning lives. It&#8217;s not about being better in a category it&#8217;s about owning mental territory that makes competition irrelevant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The difference compounds over time:<br>Level 1 gets you attention<br>Level 2 gets you credibility<br>Level 3 gets you loyalty<br>Level 4 gets you category ownership<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Want to know your real position?<br>Don&#8217;t look at your marketing.<br>Don&#8217;t look at your proof points.<br>Don&#8217;t even look at your expensive decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Look at what concept you&#8217;re willing to build your entire business around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What territory are you willing to own?<br>What category are you willing to create?<br>What position are you willing to embody &#8211; not just communicate?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That&#8217;s your real position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Everything else is just marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>P.S. Next time someone suggests &#8220;improving our messaging,&#8221; ask them what expensive business decisions they&#8217;re willing to make instead. Then ask what concept they&#8217;re willing to build the entire business around. That&#8217;s where positioning lives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re customer-centric!&#8221;Every company says it.Few actually are. Here&#8217;s why there are four levels of customer focus, and most companies never get past level one: LEVEL 1: SAYING IT This is where most companies stop. It&#8217;s easy. It&#8217;s cheap. It&#8217;s just talk. LEVEL 2: PROVING IT Better, but still just evidence of claims. Not fundamental change. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2268,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2267"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2267\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2269,"href":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2267\/revisions\/2269"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}